The election of Donald Trump may have rattled global markets, at least temporarily, but shippers at the JOC Inland Distribution Conference the day after the election were cautiously optimistic. They were certainly cheered by the president-elect’s promise of $1 trillion in infrastructure spending.
Recent industry comments suggest carriers are being cautious in ordering new capacity — new ship orders are down substantially versus 2015 — and also will be cautious on capacity as alliances roll out their service networks. This is leading a number of observers to suggest that the container market gradually may be returning to equilibrium.
Lawrence J. Gross, president, Gross Transportation Consulting
Anyone paying attention to rail carload data would conclude from the year-over-year losses that it’s a difficult market, but hidden in the figures is a story of improvement.
Jerry Peck, GTM Systems Integration and Trade and Customs Specialist, Hitachi Consulting
It will be interesting to see what concepts come out of the McMillon Family Retail Innovation and Technology Lab, as well as what impact this growing segment of technology — combined with its influence on the shopping behavior of millennials — could have on future logistics and distribution models.
Gary Ferrulli, President-North America, Unicon Lgistics
Contract extension talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association must address productivity issues in a serious way so US West Coast ports get somewhere remotely close to the efficiency at other major ports in the world.
Susan Kohn Ross, international trade attorney, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp
An educated guess on value of imported produce, without reconciliation later being filed to reflect actual sales values, could land fruit and vegetable importers in Customs’ hot seat.
Global container shipping will never be the same after this year. The industry many of us have spent a career toiling away within, is gone. Or at least aspects of it are — the names, the companies, the cultures, but, of course, not the tonnage.
Colin Barrett, president, Barret Transportation Consultants
There’s no legal obligation — under either common law or commerce law — on anyone to draw a payer’s attention to an overpayment. So long as the carrier is refunding them on demand, it’s well within the law.
What do shippers and container lines really want, true collaboration that helps to solve problems, or to pay lip service that sounds good but has no bite?
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